This new booklet highlights these approaches and the views of
leading experts, policymakers and academic researchers as presented
during a Public Policy Seminar jointly organised by the Economic
and Social Council (ESRC), the Department for Culture Media and
Sport (DCMS) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC),
held in June 2009.
Explaining the rationale for the seminar, Barbara Follett MP,
Minister for Tourism and Culture says: "We all value the
opportunities we have to participate in cultural and sporting
activities and we know that our lives are enriched by them.
Understanding the value of our sectors is key to making the
strongest argument for investing in culture and sport. Reflecting
that value fairly in how we make decisions is essential if we are
to do the sectors justice, and deliver value to the public. In a
world of limited resources it is imperative that we are able to
articulate the value these activities add to society. The economic
climate makes this even more necessary."
Discussing the complexities involved in finding ways to
articulate the value that culture and sport add to society,
speakers at the one day seminar highlighted:
- The need to overcome the complexities involved in capturing and
measuring value in culture and sport, without relying on economic
measures alone. In particular, the need to find more comprehensive
and meaningful ways of understanding the value and impact of
culture, media and sport.
- The value of bringing together academics, independent
researchers, policymakers and practitioners in a new discussion
forum. Closer collaboration and knowledge exchange between research
and policy communities is considered key to the development of a
strategic, policy-relevant, high-quality, cross-cutting, social and
economic evidence base for culture, media and sport.
- The future key research priorities including the need for
longitudinal research into the longer term impact of culture and
sport on individual's lives and means to measure the less
quantifiable aspects of value such as happiness and
wellbeing.
In addition, two alternative ways of thinking about value were
proposed: the first offered a new approach to assessing the
cultural value of UK film; the second highlighted a new approach
for valuing engagement in culture and sport.
Describing the booklet that summarises the seminar, Barbara
Follett MP explains: "This publication is a jumping-off point for
the way DCMS looks at the value of what we do. Recent work in the
new DCMS-led Culture and Sport Evidence programme - 'CASE' –
shows the benefit of us approaching this collaboratively and
intelligently. The CASE programme is not the end point but the
starting point for what I hope will be a new chapter in the debate
about value – and how we account for it in public policy in
culture and sport.
"It's about moving beyond simple economic conceptions of value
to understand how culture and sport affect people's lives," she
continues. "It's about making better public policy. This seminar is
a great example of intelligent collaboration – research
councils, public bodies, academia, brought together by and with
DCMS."
The seminar chair, DCMS Chief Analyst Anita Charlesworth noted
in her concluding comments, "the seminar was more about opening up
the questions than pinning down the answers. As such, we hope that
this seminar will mark the first in a series of collaborative
events where our combined expertise can work towards the best
possible results. We hope our first joint seminar and this booklet
will make a valuable contribution to this process."
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